


this could be the start of something new

by trace_de_pas



Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: Getting Together, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-11
Updated: 2017-12-11
Packaged: 2019-02-13 15:35:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,145
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12987099
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/trace_de_pas/pseuds/trace_de_pas
Summary: Kent Parson's summer consists of: getting bullied by his little sister, hooking up with Alexei Mashkov, getting drunk at a wedding, and catching feelings. Not necessarily in that order.





	this could be the start of something new

**Author's Note:**

  * For [meansgirl](https://archiveofourown.org/users/meansgirl/gifts).



Viktor and Madeleine look incredibly happy, both of them swaying to the music, eyes for only each other.

Kent feels something like jealousy burn in the back of his throat, so he throws back the rest of his drink and goes to the bar to get another one.

“G&T,” he tells the bartender. One of the good things about most of his friends being professional hockey players is that they’re rich enough to spring for an open bar.

“Not vodka?” a deep, accented voice asks.

Kent turns to see Alexei Mashkov of the Providence Falconers grinning at him. 

“I promised Petes I wouldn’t embarrass him at his wedding,” Kent says with a shrug.

“Russian wedding means vodka,” Mashkov says, signalling the bartender. “It’s bad luck, not drink shot.”

Kent narrows his eyes, he’s 90% sure that Mashkov is fucking with him, but he’s never been one to turn down alcohol.

“I wouldn’t want to offend anyone…”

“Yes, Canadians very polite.”

“Fuck you very much, I’m American!”

Mashkov laughs. “Very sorry. You pussy about vodka, I assume Canadian.”

“You know what,” Kent says, looking at the bartender. “Leave the bottle.”

 

An hour later, Kent is regret.

“Hey Mashkov,” he says, trying not to slur his words too badly. “I’m regret.”

They’re both slumped at a table in a back corner, the mostly empty bottle of vodka between them.

“Why you call Mashkov? Call Tater.”

“That’s a fucking stupid name. Why the fuck do they call you Tater?”

“Is Snowy. Mashkov, he say mash potato. Then you have potato, small and good, is tater tot. That is how I’m Tater.”

Kent thinks he has the general gist of what he was saying. “That’s stupid. I’m not calling you Tater.”

“Fine, call me Alexei. Or Alyosha, is nickname.”

“That’s not how nicknames work! S’longer than your actual name.”

“Is Russian.”

They’re interrupted by a very amused looking Swoops. “You alright there Cap?”

“I’m embracing and appreciating a different culture.”

“Him drunk,” Tater adds helpfully.

Swoops just laughs. “You gonna be alright getting back to the hotel?”

“Yeah,” Kent says, touched. Swoops is so thoughtful and kind and tall. 

“Everyone is tall compared to you.”

“Did I say that out loud?”

“Yes,” both Swoops and Alexei answer.

“Fuck.”

“Take care of him,” Swoops says to Alexei before he peaces out.

“He’s a good guy,” Kent says, watching Swoops walk away.

“Nice,” Alexei agrees.

“He’s gonna propose to his girlfriend.” Fuck. “That’s a secret, don’t tell anyone.”

“I’m promise,” Alexei says solemnly. “She say yes, you think?”

“Yeah, she’s great. They’re really great. We’ll probably be at their wedding next year.”

“When is Kent’s wedding, then? Summer after.”

Kent laughs, and he doesn’t mean for it to sound so bitter. “Not for a long time. Maybe not ever.”

Fortunately, Alexei doesn’t prod, just leans his shoulder against Kent’s, a warm, solid weight.

“We leave soon?” Alexei asks, looking around. A good portion of the guests have gone, most everyone else on the dancefloor.

“Yeah, I should get back.” He hauls himself to his feet, but the world tilts and he sways dangerously. “Fuck.”

“I walk you back,” Alexei says, draping an arm over his shoulder. “I’m promise I take care.”

Kent wants to protest, but he can tell by the stubborn glint in Alexei’s eyes that he isn’t going to back down.

They walk through the gardens, making their way to the hotel proper. The summer air does its part in sobering Kent up a little, so that when they step into the elevator, he doesn’t need Alexei’s support to stand without swaying.

They make it to his floor, and he expects Alexei to leave, to take the elevator to his own floor, but he follows Kent down the hall, until they get to his own door.

“So this is me,” Kent says, digging the keycard out of his pocket.

Alexei looks at him, his brown eyes warm. “I’m not think I’m read wrong, but if am, sorry.”

Before Kent can say anything, Alexei is cupping his cheek and kissing him. 

The kiss is soft, almost too sweet. It takes Kent a moment to kiss back, to curl his fingers in the lapel of Alexei’s jacket and tug him closer. He parts his lips, and Alexei’s tongue is in his mouth, the kiss heating up quickly. Kent is vaguely aware of his back hitting the wall and Alexei presses up against him, a solid wall of muscle. 

By the time they break apart, they’re both panting, Kent half hard in his slacks. 

“Fuck,” Alexei says, resting his forehead against Kent’s.

“Sounds like a good plan,” Kent says, and Alexei laughs, his head ducking against Kent’s neck.

He presses a kiss there, open mouthed and wet and Kent moans. The sounds is loud in the quiet of the hallway and they both freeze. Kent opens his eyes and looks down the thankfully deserted hall.

“Inside?” Kent asks.

“Da.”

 

Kent wakes up to a hangover and a naked man in his bed. All in all, this is not an irregular occurrence.

Alexei is still dead to the world, his face smushed against the pillow. In the cold light of the morning, the easy decisions he’d made the night before look very different. 

He climbs out of bed, stepping around the clothes scattered on the ground. That and the sleeping Russian in his bed are problems for future Kent. Present Kent gets a water bottle from the minibar and downs it. He tosses it into the trash and goes straight to the shower.

He sets the temperature as hot as he can handle and stands under the spray with his eyes closed. He doesn’t regret it, not exactly. He hadn’t been that drunk, not by the time they’d actually gotten their cocks out, and he’s pretty sure Alexei hadn’t been either. 

Since make the Show, he’s hooked up with a few guys here and there, had a couple of regular hookups he could count on the blow off some steam, people he could feel good with, without having to worry about it showing up on Deadspin the next day. He hasn’t ever slept with someone who had as much to lose as him though, never with another player.

Other players have always just been off limits, in his mind. After all the shit went down with Jack, he’d vowed off hockey players. Too complicated. Too messy. 

Yet here he is, a Russian D-man (heh) in his bed.

He turns off the water, towelling dry in the steamy bathroom. He wraps a towel around his waist and walks out. Alexei is sitting up in the bed, blinking sleepily at him.

“Morning,” he says, his voice carefully neutral.

“Morning,” Alexei says, breaking into the dopiest smile. Fuck.

“I was gonna order breakfast.”

“Ask if they have waffles?”

Kent laughs. “Sure.”

By the time the food gets there, Alexei has taken his own shower, pulling on his briefs from the night before. Kent throws on some sweats to answer the door, but leaves off the shirt, feeling weird being dressed when Alexei isn’t.

Alexei moans loudly when he takes his first bite of waffles, a sound similar to the one he’d made when Kent had swallowed down his cock the night before. Kent blushes and focuses on his eggs instead.

“When I’m go back to Russia, you think my trainer know I break diet plan?” Alexei asks, gesturing to the mountain of waffles, strawberries and whipped cream that is his dinner.

“Trainer have magic powers man, they always know.”

“Can read mind, what’s it called…”

“Psychic! Yeah! Chris, my trainer, he knows when I’m going off diet before I do. It’s freaky.”

“You train in Vegas?”

“Nah, I go to back home, to New York. I try and spend as much time with my mom and my sister during the summer, since the season is so busy.”

“Is good, seeing family. My parents, they don’t like travel, so only come for big games. Cannot see too much.”

“That’s rough. I can’t imagine living in a different country than my mom.”

“Is hard sometimes, but worth it. Russia is home, but is hard. Before, Russia seem like perfect, I’m think, I come to America, play hockey, but go back for retire. But I’m live in America almost ten years, is home now too. I’m used to. Now is hard when back to Russia. Different.”

“I get that. It’s not the same, but I go back, and all those guys, all my buddies from before, they’re different. You grow out of places, sometimes.”

Alexei smiles. “Yes, you get, I think.”

His smile is soft and warm and there’s a little bit of whipped cream at the corner of his mouth Kent wants to kiss away. Instead he looks down at his half eaten breakfast and changes the topic to something safer.

 

When they had parted ways, and Alexei had asked for his number, Kent hadn’t expected this. 

He’d thought, maybe they would hook up when their teams played each other. He hadn’t thought Alexei would be blowing up his phone with texts.

It’s a month after the wedding and Alexei has just sent him a picture of the largest ice cream sundae he’s ever seen.

_I hope your sharing that w/ someone_

_No ))))))))  
all mine_

_Ur trainer is going to murder u_

_worth it_

 

“Who’re you texting?” Sam asks, kicking his leg under the table.

“No one,” Kent says, too quickly. 

Her grin is sharklike. “Really? Is it the same no one you’ve been texting all summer? The one who makes you smile every time your phone vibrates?”

“Samantha leave your brother alone,” his mom says.

“Thank you,” Kent says, sticking his tongue out for good measure. 

“Is it a boy?” his mom asks, the traitor.

“It’s just a friend,” Kent says, rolling his eyes.

“A boy who is a friend?” Sam asks. “A boyfriend.”

“A friend. He’s a hockey player, he’s home for the summer and bored. That’s it.”

He’s sharper than he means to be, but at least they drop it, moving on to Sam’s college applications. 

It’s later, him and Sam curled up watching a movie when she brings it up again. “Seriously K, do you like him?”

Kent sighs and pauses the movie. “I don’t know. It’s complicated.”

“I don’t know, or it’s complicated.”

“Both. He’s nice, but I don’t know how much of it is him being nice, or him being, y’know, interested.”

“You’re sure he’s into guys, right?”

Kent coughs, and he can feel his face burning. “Yeah, he’s into guys.”

Sam stares at him for a second before she bursts out laughing. “Ew, gross. Okay, that never happened.”

“You’re the one who asked!”

“It never happened! Okay, I don’t know, just ask him, I guess? Like you’re texting him all the time, ask him if he wants to date, or whatever.”

“What if I don’t know if I want to date him?”

“Then you figure your shit out, K. Like, surprised as I am, you’re an adult, nut up and ask him out.”

“Never utter the words ‘nut up’ again in my presence. In fact, never say them again ever in your life.”

“Shut up, you’re the one who told me about boning the guy you’re texting.”

“I didn’t say it! You figured it out!”

The argument devolves into a pillow fight, as most of theirs do.

 

Alexei skypes him when he’s back in Providence. 

“I’m so tired,” he says, in lieu of a greeting. 

“Nice to see you too, Alexei.”

“Nine hour flight. Two different crying babies. When one baby stop, other baby start. I’m think they plan.”

“Mm, it was probably a nefarious plot set in motion by the Bruins. A long con to throw you off before the season even starts.”

“You joke, but Bruins can do it. They’re evil.”

Kent laughs. “I missed you.”

Alexei’s smile goes fond. “I miss you too. Summer always seem short, but this time, it feel long.”

Kent can feel his face heating, he just hopes that his camera doesn’t pick it up. “I can’t believe you guys aren’t coming out here until December.”

“It’s a long time.”

“Can I ask you something?”

“You just did.”

“Ha. Seriously.”

“Yeah, you can ask.”

“Why did you text me, this summer?”

Alexei’s brow furrows. “Why not?”

“I don’t know, we barely knew each other? I mean, we hooked up once, that was supposed to be it, but then you kept texting me.”

God, it’s hard doing this over Skype. But Kent doesn’t think he can wait until December. 

Alexei clears his throat. “I like you Kent.”

“Like, you like me and want to be my friend?”

Alexei rolls his eyes. “I mean, I like you and want to date you.”

Kent’s heart is pounding. “Really?”

“Yeah. You’re, you’re very different from what I thought. All the time, in Russia, when I’m text you, Mama ask who. She said she wants to know who makes me smile.”

Kent can’t help but smile at that. God, he looks dopey, but he can’t help it. “My sister and mom wanted to know too. They uh, thought I had a boyfriend.”

“You want to have boyfriend?”

Kent bites his lip, looking down at his hands. “I don’t know. I’m not good at this.”

“At what?”

“I don’t know. Boyfriends? Dating? The last time I did it all, it didn’t end well.”

“Maybe you take some time?” Tater says. “Figure out if you want. I will wait.”

“I,” Kent starts, pausing to take a breath. “You’re a really great guy, Alexei.”

“I’m know,” he says, all exaggerated smugness.

Kent can’t help but laugh.

They hang up soon after, and Kent notices that his sister is still signed on. He presses call as he does the math to figure out what time it is in New York.

“Shouldn’t you be asleep?” he asks as soon as she answers the call.

Sam rolls her eyes. “I’m not twelve.”

“You have school tomorrow, don’t you?”

“Wow, you’re actually turning into Mom.”

“Shut up.”

“Did you actually just call me to tell me to go to sleep?”

“No.” Kent pauses. “I talked to the guy.”

“What guy?”

“The guy.”

“Oh,” she says. The she smirks. “Your boyfriend.”

“He’s not my boyfriend. Yet.”

“Yet?” she says, practically shrieking. “Is there something you aren’t telling me Kenneth?”

“He, uh, asked me, well, he said he wanted to date me.”

“Ken that’s great!”

Kent doesn’t say anything.

“Why is your face doing that?” she asks. “You should be happy! The guy you like likes you back.”

“I don’t know if it’s a good idea.”

“Why the fuck not?”

“Don’t swear. It’s complicated, dating another player.”

“This is about Jack, isn’t it?”

“Not everything is about Jack, Sammy.”

Sam laughs, and it sounds too bitter. “When it comes to you, it almost always is. We never talk about it, because you never want to talk about it, but I’m not dumb, I can figure out what happened.”

“What happened is that we were together, and when it ended, it was a mess,” Kent says, voice hard.

“Just because things were fucked up with Jack doesn’t mean it’ll be the same with this new guy.”

“Stop swearing. I don’t know Sammy. I don’t think I can go through that again.”

“So what? You’re just never going to date anyone again?”

“No, it means I’m going to think about whether or not I’m going to date another hockey player.”

Sam sighs, and Kent hate that she looks disappointed.

 

Infuriatingly, his therapist agrees with his sister.

“You can’t keep expecting things to end up like they did six years ago. You’re a different person Kent. You were a kid then, in a relationship with a person with severe anxiety issues, in an environment that wasn’t very healthy. You were in over your head, you both were. Now you’re an adult, looking to start a relationship with another adult.”

“And if it goes to shit?” Kent asks. “He plays hockey too. We can’t just, walk out of each other’s lives. We’ll see each other for games, for events.”

“People date in the workplace all the time, Kent. If you were hesitating because you didn’t like him, or you were apprehensive about a long distance relationship, I wouldn’t push you like this. But you can’t approach every romantic relationship expecting it to end in disaster.”

Kent doesn’t say anything, so she moves on to a safer topic, but Kent can’t stop thinking about what she’d said.

 

With training camp starting, Kent’s love life is put on the backburner. He’s too exhausted to think about anything, let alone possible boyfriends, having just enough energy to eat whatever his meal service has sent and collapse into bed.

Pre-season is promising, but Kent has played enough hockey to know that it doesn’t reflect what’s going to happen during the season. Last year they’d won all their preseason games only to be knocked out of the playoffs in the first round. He wants to remind the rookies of that fact after a particularly satisfying win in Dallas. It’s their last game before the season proper starts and they’re bouncing off the walls, making plans to go out and celebrate. He shares a knowing look with Swoops but doesn’t say anything, declines the invitation and goes back to his room.

When he opens Skype, he pleasantly surprised to see Alexei signed in. Before he can talk himself out of it, he calls him.

Alexei is adorably rumpled when he answer the call, his hair damp and curling. “Hi Kent,” he says with a doofy grin.

“Hey Alexei,” Kent says, sure that his smile is just as doofy.

“Good win, you not celebrate?”

Kent feels something warm bloom in his chest. “You watched the game?”

Alexei’s cheeks go pink and he averts his eyes, shrugging. “We don’t have game today, so.”

“You guys looked good against Columbus,” Kent says. “On Tuesday.”

They sit there for a moment, just smiling at each other.   
“So,” Kent says, breaking the silence. His palms are sweaty and his heart is pounding but he didn’t become the youngest NHL captain to win the Stanley Cup by not taking chances. “Dating?”

Alexei’s smile get even bigger. “You think about it?”

“Yeah. And I want to. If you still want to?”

“I want to,” Alexei rushes to say. “Want very much.”

“Cool,” Kent says, smiling so big that he probably looks like an idiot but he doesn’t care. 

It doesn’t matter though, because Alexei is smiling back at him. “Cool.”

They’re on opposite ends of the country, they probably won’t see each other for months, there are so many things riding against them, but Kent still feels something soft and warm bubble up in his chest at that smile. 

It feels like a beginning.


End file.
